Uarda : a Romance of Ancient Egypt — Volume 07 eBook

“It will not do,” said the Regent.
“I need Ameni’s support—­not
for to-day and to-morrow only. I will not become
his blind tool; but he must believe that I am.”

The old woman shrugged her shoulders, rose, went into
her cave, and brought out a phial.

“Take this,” she said. “Four
drops of it in his wine infallibly destroys the drinker’s
senses; try the drink on a slave, and thou wilt see
how effectual it is.”

“What shall I do with it?” asked Ani.

“Justify thyself to Ameni,” said the witch
laughing. “Order the ship’s captain
to come to thee as soon as he returns; entertain him
with wine—­ and when Ameni sees the distracted
wretch, why should he not believe that in a fit of
craziness he sailed past Chennu?”

“That is clever! that is splendid!” exclaimed
Ani. “What is once remarkable never becomes
common. You were the greatest of singers—­you
are now the wisest of women—­my lady Beki.”

“I am no longer Beki, I am Hekt,” said
the old woman shortly.

“As you will! In truth, if I had ever
heard Beki’s singing, I should be bound to still
greater gratitude to her than I now am to Hekt,”
said Ani smiling. “Still, I cannot quit
the wisest woman in Thebes without asking her one
serious question. Is it given to you to read
the future? Have you means at your command whereby
you can see whether the great stake—­ you
know which I mean—­shall be won or lost?”

Hekt looked at the ground, and said after reflecting
a short time:

“I cannot decide with certainty, but thy affair
stands well. Look at these two hawks with the
chain on their feet. They take their food from
no one but me. The one that is moulting, with
closed, grey eyelids, is Rameses; the smart, smooth
one, with shining eyes, is thyself. It comes
to this—­which of you lives the longest.
So far, thou hast the advantage.”

Ani cast an evil glance at the king’s sick hawk;
but Hekt said: “Both must be treated exactly
alike. Fate will not be done violence to.”

“Feed them well,” exclaimed the Regent;
he threw a purse into Hekt’s lap, and added,
as he prepared to leave her: “If anything
happens to either of the birds let me know at once
by Nemu.”

Ani went down the hill, and walked towards the neighboring
tomb of his father; but Hekt laughed as she looked
after him, and muttered to herself:

“Now the fool will take care of me for the sake
of his bird! That smiling, spiritless, indolent-minded
man would rule Egypt! Am I then so much wiser
than other folks, or do none but fools come to consult
Hekt? But Rameses chose Ani to represent him!
perhaps because he thinks that those who are not particularly
clever are not particularly dangerous. If that
is what he thought, he was not wise, for no one usually
is so self-confident and insolent as just such an
idiot.”